Criminal by Terra Elan McVoy Page B

put some things into it. I couldn’t see much because I’d started to cry. It wasn’t just going to my momma’s that was making me scared. It was Bird, telling me I had to.
    And then Bird was in the doorway. Watching me as I stood there, shoulders shaking, the bag stupid in my hand. I knew I had to tell her then so that she would understand—understand that even if they searched her car, she wouldn’t be in trouble. I had to reassure her, right now, by telling her the whole thing. I just wasn’t sure I knew how to do it in a way that would still protect Dee.
    â€œBird, let me expla—”
    Her fist against the doorframe made me jump.
    â€œThere ain’t nothing I want to hear from you, youunderstand? Ain’t nothing you say but a bunch of lies . You get out of my house right now and you don’t come back. Not until you talking truth, if you even know what that is.”
    â€œBird, I didn’t—”
    â€œGet out of my house! Get out, I’m telling you! Just get out!”
    It was like she was going to push me herself if I didn’t move. So crying, snuffling, gasping, shuffling, I went past her, down the hall. The TV was on in the front room. A cop show. It wasn’t funny to me in the slightest that on it, someone was getting busted.

I WOKE UP IN MY BED—MY OLD BED, AT CHERRY’S. THE light was on. I didn’t know how long I’d been asleep or what time it was, but it was dark outside. I didn’t remember much besides walking over there from Bird’s, drinking all three beers I found in the fridge, curling up on the bed, and crying, crying, crying.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” Cherry said to me from the doorway. She was wearing the black pants and white button-down that meant she’d been at work. Wherever that was this time. Her hair was up, and her lipstick had crusted in a dark line around the edges of her lips. She needed me to retouch her roots.
    â€œI’m staying here for a while.”
    She looked at me, eyes loose—everything in her loose. Loosebut not so much so that she wouldn’t fly into a tightened rage at any moment. My body clenched up. She looked at her nails a minute.
    â€œYou’ll need to pay rent, then.”
    I heard how small my voice was when I said, automatic, “But the house is paid for.”
    She snorted. “Yeah, but my patience with you isn’t.” Then she disappeared down the dark hall. I could hear her hand sliding down the wall, guiding her a little.
    She hadn’t turned off the light.

IN THE MORNING, I MADE SURE TO GET UP EARLY. I GOT dressed, quietly, but I should’ve known it didn’t matter how much noise I made. Cherry was asleep on the couch, the DVD still rotating its constant dramatic menu. I took her car keys from her purse and pulled the door shut, silent as I could. I wouldn’t be gone long. She wouldn’t notice. And it would take a lot, most likely, to wake her.
    I didn’t know what I was going to say to Dee, really. Didn’t know what I could realistically ask of him, right now. Only knew that I had to see him. And, no matter what he said, I knew—from the other night, and always—that he needed me, too. Only a week had passed, but it seemed like years since last Saturday. Years since he picked me up from work that Friday, me flushedfaced and excited, picturing a whole romantic weekend of just us. Each day since, almost a lifetime of things had happened. And he was wrong that being apart was the best thing for us right now. If he was too stubborn to know it, I was going to help him remember.
    It wasn’t a long drive to his gym, but I sped with the rest of traffic anyway. The place was huge, and glossy, the parking lot full of cars. His big black truck towered over them. Hurrying inside, I hoped he was mostly done with his workout. Otherwise he’d be mad I interrupted.
    The California-looking guy behind the reception